Tag Archives: With partner

Loïc has made his proposal, asking me to marry him, be his wife and be with him forever. Wow… that was a mouth full and very bold in asking, especially the ‘be with me forever’!! Or should I say, it’s I who is more daring to say ‘YES‘ (because by saying ‘yes’, I have committed myself; but for him, he just simply asked the questions, not made the commitment).

With this love note and our new long term commitment, I would like to encourage, challenge and dare every reader to boldly express and declare your love!! No matter it is for your girl/boy friend, wife/husband, partner, parents or secret lover, just go ahead and tell them (and again and again) via words and actions!

We all love to be loved and yet afraid to ask and give completely. Our past experiences or hurts plus self-protection mechanism may somehow prevent us to love bravely. Why let it stopping us from being in love and enjoying love? Why not invite ourselves to give a try, be daring and free? How about starting with simply declaring and saying ‘I LOVE YOU’ or “YOU ARE THE ONE I WANT TO BE WITH” or something intimate from your heart?

It’s your love life, your love call ~

Challenge:

Declaring and expressing your love to the one who matters to you

Extra Challenge:

Express with words and actions

Goals:

To express your love within boldly and freely, leave no regrets and let your love one refilled with your love

Time required:

1 hour

Energy level:

Medium-High (on heart & soul level)

Preparation:

Prepare 2 declaration of love statements and 1 action

Here are few heart-felt statements for your reference:

My life is with a purpose when I am with you

I want to live the rest of my life with you

You make me feel so special

I want to build something great with you in life

You are the one I want to be with

You are exactly what I need in my life

You are my everything, my whole world

I want to have children with you

You make me feel at home

I love you even with your picky character; I learn to appreciate you the whole package

You make me feel loved and cherished

With you, I may start doing big project and not feeling alone

* Encourage and support us by sharing this post with your friends or clicking “LIKE” if you like our post:)

Don’t forget to share with us your experiences and how your life has changed because of the challenge!!

After 30 Days on How to love yourself more, I have challenged myself on 30 Days on How to love your partner. It has been a great 30 days in my life and for my relationship with my partner. I have carried out the daily actions myself; some are quite challenging and requiring lots of space between my partner and I, some are easier and fun to do. We not only get to know each other much more in a deeper level, but also using the opportunities to make commitments embracing our differences and common goals in life. Both my partner and I have learnt a lot in this 30 days journey, I truly hope this mini-journey has brought and shared different perspectives of relationship, enriched and helped your relationship in any ways.

Thank you all who read my posts, shared comments, gave feedback and liked what I believe 🙂 Learning how to love is a lifelong journey, hope to see or hear from you again on the road.

I wish all of us all creating and profiting from the life we want and we create!

In general, do you love your partner in your own ways or the ways your partner expects or a mix of the two? Do you insist on the view that what you think or what you give your partner is the best and is for your partner’s best interest? Do you know and carefully consider his or her needs before giving and sharing your opinions and love? Do you know which of your love actions make your partner feels loved and cared for?

We are all unique; we have our own ways of expressing, thinking and doing things, including loving ourselves and others. Sometimes we adopt the same approach of loving ourselves in loving others; sometimes we adjust or take a different approach. It’s important that we remind ourselves since we are all different due to our sexes, backgrounds, childhood, past experiences and so on, so we may have different needs in love. What you think is the best for your partner may not be the best or what he or she needs or wants.

For example, as a female partner, you may show your love by keeping a loving, clean home with meal prepared for your partner to come back to; however your partner might oversee all these and hope you energetically welcome him home with sweet words of greeting, comforting hugs or a simple massage after a long day instead of you busy with cooking and feeling tired due to the house chores. It’s a pity in the relationship where couples love and give each other so much, but the love is not fully received, just because the love given is not the love expected or wanted.

How would you love your partner in the days to come?

Today I love my partner by: (share it aloud to your partner)

Understanding what is my partner’s expectation of ‘being loved’ and committing myself to love in such ways expected by my partner.

For your actions:

(1) List out ‘how you love your partner’.

(2) Find out from your partner, what are the things you do that he or she feels loved by you; what are his or her examples of feeling loved.

How do you love your partner? Are you constantly trying out new ways to love your partner, new manners to show and express your affection and caring, new channels to communicate your admiration, gratitude and appreciation? Are you being creative in loving your partner, delivering your love messages and actions, as well as creating the relationship you want? Surely your partner would not mind little versatility and dynamic in how you love him or her.

Ever thought that loving your partner may be creative? Love may be just love and you just love your partner and nothing in love can be ‘creative’ about it. If you are willing, give it a try and answer this: how many ways can you come up to express ‘you love your partner’?How many ways to say thank you to your partner? When you come up with 10 or 20 options, there will still be few out there, waiting for us to explore.

Sounds exciting, isn’t it? To go beyond what we know exist already and explore the unknown. It not only surprises your partner, but also excites ourselves in the exploring process. Here are some tips for being creative in loving your partner and building the relationship:

always brain storm for some new exciting ideas; not to stop at first and only idea

do something spontaneous and out of your ordinary routine, i.e. your colleague mentions a good place for night viewing today in office, why not take your partner to the place for a romantic night view (something you would not normally do in weekday).

deliver messages unconventionally, i.e. writing on the sand, through your singing, spelt out the message using MM chocolate, using post-it, graffiti….etc.

following the heart-felt moments; create environment for it and for surprises

go extra mile for your partner, try something new or wouldn’t dare to do

Relationship is what you create of it; it’s in your hand to excite and energize your love for your partner and the relationship. What you invest and put in the relationship, you and your partner will both benefit from it.

Today I love my partner by: (share it aloud to your partner)

Being creative in the ways I love my partner; I will try different ways.

For your actions:

(1) Take time to brainstorm right now and come up with at least 5 NEW ways that you have never done before in expressing “I love you” to your partner. Do these 5 new ways with this week.

We are attracted to our partners for some or many reasons. These may be our partners’ character, personality, skills or abilities, his or her beliefs, attitudes and perceptions hold in life, outer appearance and inner virtues, habits and so on. These elements attribute to who our partners are and how they behave, live the lives with us and how they treat others. We are happily in love with our partners the ways they are and taking pride of their simple being.

Does your partner know how proud you are of him or her? Have you told or reminded your partner lately?

Take some time to list out all the qualities, areas that you are proud of your partner right now; something that your partner possesses or does that make you smiles, happy and feel good about it, just like as if it’s your own good qualities. It’s important in a couple relationships that we recognize these qualities that make us proud of our partner and openly appreciate and praise these elements. This does not only sweeten the relationship, but also affirms your partner as a human being.

If you are proud of yourself, express and embrace pride to yourself, you would know how to be proud of your partner. Being prideful is just one thin line across as being egoistic. When you take pride in someone or something, you view this someone or something with positive initiation and perspectives; you would want to be part of this someone’s life or this something. You are in favor and almost praise this someone or something. On the contrary, when you are egoistic, you think no one is better than you; so when you view others or events around you, more often with a look down and contempt attitudes and perceptions, as nothing is as good as you. You may tend to belittle someone or something. Be very careful about the thin line.

Your partner may be very different from you in many other ways; it does not stop you from admiring and be proud of him or her! Take pride in your partner and the relationship together.

Today I love my partner by: (share it aloud to your partner)

Taking pride and be proud of my partner as he or she is today.

For your actions:

(1) List out the qualities, areas, beliefs or manners that your partner has that you are attracted to and are proud of.

(2) Write to your partner or choose a good moment to share with your partner, how proud you are of him or her.

Everything takes its time to grow, mature and consummate. By pulling the seeding, it will not help the plant to grow faster.

We have been brought up differently accordingly to our parents’ teaching, our social backgrounds, cultures and educations; we are learning through various thinking models, institutions and techniques; we are also growing and maturing based on our own unique personal experiences, failures and successes. Each of us has own favorite and effective ways of learning and requiring different time frames and space to grow. What is your most effective and efficient way to develop? In which areas would you like to improve and in what manners?

In a couple relationships, it is always easier to identify what our partners may improve, develop, grow up and get mature on. Our partners may agree or disagree on our views and take or not take actions subsequently. It is important that despite what we think or wish, our partners are individuals who are responsible for their own well-beings, own personal developments and growth, and we are here to support them, but not to take actions on behalf of them. Let them do at their own pace and timing.

If the above describes you in the relationship with your partner, taking this opportunity to open up a space where you are supporting and embracing your partner’s ways of enhancing him or herself. If your partner chooses not to do much about his or her own personal growth (after you challenge him or her out of own comfort zones), let him or her be. Perhaps your partner is thinking seriously and taking a break before starting or continuing. Let your own self-development be the inspiring example for your partner.

On the other hand, if your partner is the demanding, pushy one: express your gratitude to his or her goodwill on you; thank your partner for seeing your potentials and wanting the best for your development. Assure your partner that you are aware it’s your responsibility to grow, you are taking care of it; ask your partner to be patient and allow you to do it at your own speed and timing. Invite your partner to be a part of the process for the mental and physical supports, encouragements and recognitions, but not as an examiner who constantly checks for results.

Personal growth is a lifelong journey. It’s an honor to participate and be a part of someone’s development process, especially your partner’s. Seize the opportunity well, use your wisdom to support; let your involvements value-add your partner’s growth.

Today I love my partner by: (share it aloud to your partner)

Empowering and trusting he or she is taking care of his or her personal development; providing encouragements and recognitions when he or she needs it and a space allowing him or her to grow at own pace and timing.

For your actions:

(1) Take time to think about how do you participate in your partner’s personal development? Do you take charge or empower and allow your partner to grow as he or she wishes?

(2) How could you support your partner more in his or her own development?

Relationship is like a water balloon; once you throw or drop it too hard, it breaks, water splashes out and it is finished.

In a relationship, there are many instances where tricky questions asked (i.e. do I look fat?), difficult messages delivered (i.e. you have bad breath…), sensitive topics discussed (i.e. performance in bed…), heated disagreements and arguments took place, as well as various vulnerable moments shared (i.e. open heart to heart talk and make up conversations). Do you hold, carry out yourself with love, respect and consideration for your partner, do you choose your responses carefully and appropriately under these circumstances?

We are all humans and not all perfect; we have our own emotions, weaknesses, blind spots and ego. It’s so possible and easy, if we don’t stay focus on our partners or the subject and watch out for distractions, that a simple conversation may turn into a heated argument, or further into a physical aggression when we lost total control of ourselves. We may say or do things that we are not intended to or regret afterwards. This not only hurts our partners mentally or physically, but also indirectly harms ourselves and damages the relationship.

A healthy relationship is able to endure the rough patches within a couple, the unintended hurts or insensitive dealing of the situation. But when the frequency gets too often and the degree of damage becomes too severe, it wears down the relationship and the love for each other. An old metaphor: relationship is like a love bank account, when you give and show your love to your partner, it’s like making a deposit into the bank account, a little by little. When you do something that’s harmful or damaging to the relationship, it’s a withdrawal from the account, decreasing at a much faster pace.

There are four golden rules proposed below on how we could handle our partners with care:

Find out what is the underlying reason(s) or goal(s) behind these questions, messages or conversations; it helps to know which direction and approach to take; conduct yourself towards and always stay in the direction

Always have your partner in your focus; pay attention to his or her emotions, feelings, reactions, body languages and unspoken messages

Listen to your partner more than you speak, try 7:3 ratio; ask more questions in a caring way to understand your partner’s hidden messages or concerns

Slow to response, since it is important for your partner and yourself, take time to response, to choose the use of words and manners appropriately and smartly

The important thing is to handle the situation with tenderness and love, respects and patience, as well as consideration for your partner’s feelings. Make it another deposit made into the love bank account!

Example: say you find out the reasons your partner asks about if she is fat or not are (a) want your admiration on her figure; (b) your affirmation on your love for her irrespective her figure; (c) she has low self-confidence over her figure and wants some ego boost from you or (d) just want to know other’s view about her. Once you know the underlying reasons and messages, you don’t need to comment on ‘yes’ or ‘no’ so quickly, you may start with ‘you know you have a sexy body that attracts me lots’, ‘you are the right size for me’, ‘I like the way you are’, ‘I love you no matter your figure’ and offer some compliments, give some hugs and kisses. If she insists your answer, ask her ‘what makes her feel this way’ and just listen to her reply, lead her to the source of her own perception about self; perhaps through the conversation, she may realize something.

(1) Take few events in your relationship and go through them in your mind, ask yourself if you have been handling your partner with care? How would you handle it better?

(2) Give yourself a chance to try different way of communication with your partner; use the opportunity to discuss with your partner on the topic of ‘how to handle your partner with care’ and to do some role play for fun.